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(b Florence, Nov 2, 1727; d Milan, Nov 14, 1812).

Italian painter and engraver. He trained in Florence with Agostino Veracini (1689–1762) and Francesco Conti (1681–1760), and studied architecture and stage design under Antonio Galli-Bibiena. His earliest known painting is a fresco of 1758: Heavenly Father in Glory in the Dominican church in Livorno. He enriched his art by the study of Correggio’s works in Parma, and also those of Bolognese painters, making engravings (1764–7) after paintings by Guido Reni, Agostino Carracci, Annibale Carracci, Guercino and others. These were praised in 1765 by Pierre-Jean Mariette and were later collected in an album entitled Venticinque quadri ai maestri eccellenti incisi da Giuliano Traballesi (Milan, 1796).

In 1764 he won a competition at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Parma with the painting Furius Camillus Liberating Rome from the Gallic Senones, a work that is deeply influenced by the Bolognese tradition and by the Roman classicism of Nicolas Poussin. The success of this painting won Traballesi major commissions in his native Tuscany, where the transition from Rococo to Neo-classicism had been encouraged by the reforms initiated by Leopoldo II Habsburg-Lorraine when he became Grand Duke of Tuscany in ...

(b Celaya, Oct 13, 1759; d Celaya, Aug 3, 1833).

Mexican architect, painter, engraver, and sculptor. He studied painting under Miguel Cabrera at the Real Academia de las Nobles Artes de S Carlos in Mexico City but did not graduate. He subsequently took up wood-carving and engraving. He learnt the elements of architecture from the Jesuits, who gave him a copy of the writings of Jacopo Vignola. His architecture exhibits a familiarity with the classic treatises, although he never visited Europe. Tresguerras’s first major work (1780s) was the reconstruction in Neo-classical style of the convent church of S Rosa, Querétaro, originally consecrated in 1752. The dome over the crossing is set on a drum articulated by rusticated columns, which flank a series of round-headed openings. He is also credited with remodelling the interior of the convent church of S Clara, Querétaro, and with constructing the Neptune Fountain (1802–7) in the plaza in front of it. The god stands under a triumphal arch, while water pours through the mouth of a fish at his feet. Tresguerras also completed (...

(b Belfast, 1774; d London, March 18, 1839).

Irish sculptor. His family was of Italian origin and settled in Ireland. In 1793 he moved to London and studied sculpture there under Peter Francis Chenu and at the Royal Academy, where he exhibited from 1802. He spent a period in Italy, where he was deeply influenced by Antonio Canova. From 1797 to 1800 he taught modelling to the daughters of George III and was subsequently Sculptor-in-Ordinary to the Royal Family. This led to a large international royal and aristocratic clientele for whom he modelled busts such as those of George III (1810; Windsor Castle, Berks, Royal Col.), Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (1815; London, India Office) and Louis XVIII (exh. R.A. 1816). He visited Ireland frequently and while there modelled a bust of Henry Grattan (1812; Dublin, N.G.), which Canova praised, and one of Daniel O’Connell (1829); reproductions of these had a wide circulation....

Italian family of artists, of French descent. Andrea Valadier (b Aramont, 1695; d Rome, 23 July 1759), a goldsmith from Provence, settled in Rome in 1714. He established a workshop in Via Babuino that continued operating under the control of successive generations of the family until the mid-19th century and was the precursor of the modern Valadier factory employing some 150 craftsmen. Andrea’s workshop produced decorative objects in a variety of media that had a profound influence on prevailing taste and established a distinctive style characterized by classically inspired Rococo elements. Andrea’s son, Luigi Valadier I (b Rome, 26 Feb 1726; d Rome, 15 Sept 1785), took over his father’s workshop in 1759 and started working for the Vatican in 1769. In 1779 Pope Pius VI appointed him superintendent of the restoration of the bronzes in the papal collection and gave him responsibility for the collection of ancient cameos. Luigi Valadier’s greatest religious work, aside from the silver and lapis lazuli chalice (Paris, Louvre), given by ...

(b Rome, April 14, 1762; d Rome, Feb 1, 1839).

Italian architect, urban planner, designer and writer. He was one of the most important exponents of international Neo-classicism in central Italy. Although he was expected to follow his father’s profession and indeed subsequently took over the family workshop (see above), he pursued his own vocation from an early age. In 1775 he won a prize at the Concorso Clementino of the Accademia di S Luca with a design for a façade for the church of S Salvatore in Lauro, Rome, and two years later, still aged only 15, he won the Concorso Balestra for architecture. In 1781, before he was 20, he was appointed Architetto dei Sacri Palazzi, no doubt assisted by the influence of his father, who enjoyed papal patronage. In the same year he embarked on a study tour that took him north to Milan and France, although it seems he went no further than Marseille.

Valadier’s first architectural commission (...

(de)

(b Toulouse, Dec 6, 1750; d Paris, Feb 16, 1819).

French painter. He trained at the academy in Toulouse under the history painter Jean-Baptiste Despax (1709–73). In 1769 he went to Italy for the first time, with Mathias Du Bourg, a councillor at the Toulouse parliament. Du Bourg introduced him to Etienne-François, Duc de Choiseul, a keen patron of the arts, who in turn recommended him to Gabriel-François Doyen, one of the leading history painters in Paris, whose studio he entered in 1773. Doyen gave his pupil a sense of the elevated ideals of history painting but was also sympathetic to the lesser genre of landscape. Valenciennes presumably frequented Choiseul’s country seat at Chanteloup, near Amboise, meeting there the landscape painters Hubert Robert and Jean Hoüel, both protégés of Choiseul. His early interest in the native landscape can be seen in his sketchbooks (Paris, Louvre), especially one dated 1775 that contains drawings made at Amboise, Compiègne and Fontainebleau, and in a later series of oil studies on paper made in Brittany, at the mouth of the River Rance and around St Malo....

(b Naples, 1796; d Naples, Aug 10, 1859).

Italian architect and writer. He was a pupil of D. Chelli and G. Santacroce at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Naples and from 1814 to 1821 in Rome on a scholarship from the Real Istituto di Belle Arti. In 1817 he won the competition to build the votive church of S Francesco di Paola in the present Piazza Plebiscito, Naples, designed on a Greek cross plan, which Valente considered ‘the most suitable in terms of beauty, regularity and decorum’. Controversy over the competition result, however, led to all the designs being sent to the Accademia di S Luca in Rome, the members of which preferred the designs of Pietro Bianchi, to whom Valente lost the commission. He designed and supervised the completion of the Palazzo De Rosa (1826–34) on the Via Toledo, Naples, which is astylar with a rusticated basement. In 1827 he was commissioned to build the Villa Acton (now the ...

(b Angoulême, 1729; d Angoulême, May 7, 1800).

French architect and teacher, active in Russia. He was a nephew and pupil of Jacques-François Blondel, became an external student at the French Academy in Rome and studied the works of Palladio in Vicenza (1750–52). In 1759 he was invited to Russia as professor of architecture at the new Academy of Arts on the recommendation of Jacques-Germain Soufflot. He was one of the first to introduce the ideas of Neo-classicism to Russia, but the retention of certain Baroque features lent his works a particular grace and beauty. In 1761 he took over the design of the Gostinyy Dvor (1758–85) in St Petersburg, a trading market of 200 shops with a central courtyard, which had been started by Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli (see Rastrelli family §(2)). Vallen de la Motte achieved a clarity of concept and rationality that dispensed with Rastrelli’s planned Rococo decoration; only the handsome composition of the rounded corners hints at the Baroque. In the Roman Catholic church of St Catherine (...

(b Ghent, Oct 28, 1772; d Ghent, Dec 3, 1833).

Flemish architect. He was the son of the architect Adriaan Van de Cappelle and was trained at the Academie in Ghent, where he won the first prize for architecture (1794). He completed his studies under the architect Jean-Baptiste Pisson and practised as an architect and builder, as well as becoming director of the architecture department of the Ghent Academie in 1805. Apart from his work as a contractor, he was particularly occupied in civil and church architecture, including the restoration and extension of the village churches at Zomergem, Vinderhoute (1821) and Lovendegem (choir, 1822). His most important civil works, many of which are difficult to date, include the châteaux of Moerkerke and Oostakker (Slotendries); additions to the châteaux of Vinderhoute and Kluizen; country houses in Destelbergen and Nevele (the latter jointly with Jacques Goetghebuer); and a number of mansions in Ghent, St Nicholas and Aalst. The town hall (...

(b Brussels, June 14, 1771; d Ixelles, Brussels, June 17, 1834).

Flemish architect. Nothing is known of his professional training, but throughout his career he worked in a Neo-classical style derived from France. Most of his work was for the Dutch royal family and in 1820 he succeeded Ghislain-Joseph Henry (1754–1820) as architect to William I, King of Holland. As royal architect in Brussels (which alternated annually with The Hague as capital of the Low Countries), he erected or decorated many official buildings, of which the majority have been destroyed or altered. His earlier work included altering the former Hôtel du Conseil de Brabant (now the Palais de la Nation) to accommodate the States General and adding a large room to house the upper chamber (1815; interior destr. 1820 and reconstructed by the architect); the Château de Tervueren (begun 1817; destr. 1879) for the Prince of Orange; the archbishop’s palace at Mechelen (1818; destr. 1914) and headquarters for the Société de Commerce (...

[Joseph François]

(b Bruges, Oct 12, 1760; d Bruges, May 7, 1844).

Belgian architect. The son of a master carpenter called Joseph Van Gierdegom (c. 1729–c. 1795), he is often confused with his father and with his half-brother Jean-Népomucène Van Gierdegom (1785–1865). The latter was town architect in Bruges and, like Josephus, a teacher at the Vrije Academie voor Schone Kunsten; however in 1825 he became a municipal architect in Mons. Josephus was trained in architecture at the Bruges Academie and won a prize there in 1778; in 1779 he obtained a second prize in Brussels. Apart from his practice as an architect and master carpenter, he was primarily a teacher at the Vrije Academie voor Schone Kunsten in Bruges, where he was a professor from 1802 to 1838 and headmaster from 1832 to 1835. His best-known work, which establishes him as one of the more interesting Belgian Neo-classical architects, is the Château de Peellaert (1813–17...

[pseud. Lacroix]

(b Paris, 1728; d Paris, May 19, 1799).

French cabinetmaker. He became a maître-ébéniste on 6 February 1755 and about this time he took over the workshop of his father, François Vandercruse. He was related to the cabinetmakers Jean-Henri Riesener, Martin Carlin, Etienne Levasseur, Pioniez, Nicolas-Jean Marchand and the brothers Jean-François Oeben and Simon Oeben (d 1786). He stamped his work r.v.l.c. He was very successful and worked for Louis-Philippe, 4th Duc d’Orléans, the Comtesse Du Barry and the Garde Meuble de la Couronne through Gilles Joubert and Riesener. He moved with ease from the Louis XV to the Neo-classical style and mastered all types of marquetry: geometric, floral (e.g. secrétaire à abattant, c. 1770; Paris, Petit Pal.) and a trellis design known as ‘à la Reine’ on a citrus-wood ground (London, V&A). He also used mahogany veneering (Paris, Mus. Carnavalet) and porcelain from the factory of Sèvres to embellish some secrétaires (e.g. New York, Met.) and many small tables (e.g. work-table, ...

(b Kingston, NY, Oct 15, 1775; d Kingston, Sept 24, 1852).

American painter. The grandson of Pieter Vanderlyn (1687–1778), a portrait painter active in the Hudson River Valley, he manifested an early talent for penmanship and drawing. During his late youth he moved to New York, where he worked in a frame shop and studied in Archibald Robertson’s drawing academy. His copy of a portrait by Gilbert Stuart brought him to the attention of that artist, with whom he then worked in Philadelphia.

Under the patronage of the politician Aaron Burr (1756–1836), Vanderlyn went to France in 1796, becoming the first American painter to study in Paris. He gained a reliable Neo-classical technique and aspirations after ‘the Grand Manner’ from his teacher François-André Vincent. Exhibits at the Paris Salons over several years—beginning with the notable Self-portrait of 1800 (New York, Met.)—reflected his growing ambitions. In 1804 he produced a history painting with an American subject, the Murder of Jane McCrea...

(b Naples, May 12, 1700; d Caserta, March 1, 1773).

Italian architect, draughtsman and painter. His work represents the transition from Baroque to Neo-classicism, and his correspondence and the number of his extant drawings make him perhaps the best-documented Italian architect of the 18th century. Vanvitelli’s father was the Dutch vedute painter Gaspar van Wittel, and his mother was Roman. Luigi began his career as a history painter, and from 1724 he was employed as a copyist in the fabbrica of St Peter’s in Rome. The extent of his academic training is not clear, but under Antonio Valeri (1648–1736), who succeeded Carlo Fontana as architetto soprastante, Vanvitelli discovered his talent as an architect. Ultimately, however, Valeri was a less significant influence on his work than Fontana or Filippo Juvarra. His first patron was the prefect Cardinal Annibale Albani. As a member of the latter’s retinue, in the 1720s, Vanvitelli went to Urbino, where he participated in the decoration of the Albani Chapel (...

(b Cuenca, Jul 1829; d Cuenca, Dec 1, 1892).

Ecuadorean sculptor. He received his training in the workshop of the Cuencan painter Eusebio Alarcón (fl 1835–1864). From a young age he was interested in polychromed woodcarving on religious themes, a medium that was greatly esteemed by the Quito school during the colonial period. Vélez, however, transformed the former Baroque language into neoclassicism, inspired by imported examples and incorporating the academic teachings brought so late into Ecuador. Especially worthy of mention are his Crucifixes (e.g. Holy Christ; church of Señor de las Aguas, Girón, Azuay), as well as his images of the Infant Christ and Calvary, which were sought by collectors, religious communities, and museums throughout the country. Together with Gaspar de Sangurima (1787–fl. 1833), his disciple Daniel Alvarado (c. 1867–1953), and other local engravers, Vélez managed to make Cuenca the most important center of 19th-century sculpture in the country. His portraiture was also significant, and he created a series of busts of public figures in wood and marble, including that of the celebrated Franciscan journalist ...

[Jacob]

(b Antwerp, Feb 24, 1704; d Paris, Dec 9, 1771).

Flemish sculptor and ornamentalist. He studied in Antwerp with his uncle, Michiel van der Voort I, but left for Paris c. 1716 and by 1727 was working for the Bâtiments du Roi as an ornamental sculptor and virtuoso carver of wooden panelling and picture frames. He gained favour with the Premier Architecte du Roi, Jacques Gabriel V, and his son Ange-Jacques Gabriel and worked on many of the royal châteaux. He was approved (agréé) by the Académie Royale in 1733. He collaborated with Jules Degoullons (c. 1671–1737) on decorations at Versailles (e.g. the Chambre de la Reine, 1730; in situ), and for the apartments of the Dauphin and for the Petite Galerie of the king’s apartments (both 1736; in situ). The style of this work, which accorded equal importance to the carving of the border mouldings and to the fields of the panels, later influenced the work of François de Cuvilliés I at the Munich Residenz and of Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff at Schloss Charlottenburg, Berlin. Between ...

(b Antwerp, April 5, 1735; d Antwerp, March 9, 1819).

Flemish silversmith, son of Michiel Verberckt. He was an apprentice in his father’s workshop, while at the same time taking lessons in modelling (1751–4) from the sculptor Cornelis d’Heur at the Academie. One of his earliest works is a signed chased silver font. From 1756 to 1761 he worked in the workshop of his uncle Jacques Verberckt in Paris. He returned to Antwerp in 1761 and became a journeyman in his father’s workshop but engraved his own signature on some objects. From 1762 to 1767 he attended lessons in drawing and sculpture at the Academie. In 1767 he became professor of modelling in plaster at the Academie and in 1771 a master silversmith.

Jan Baptist Verberckt took over his father’s workshop in 1775. Under the French occupation he was appointed as dean of the goldsmiths’ guild (1794) and commissioned to melt down confiscated silverwork. His workshop was taken over in ...

(Jos)

(b Antwerp, March 17, 1706; d Antwerp, Nov 10, 1778).

Flemish silversmith, brother of Jacques Verberckt. He was apprenticed in 1726 to Jan Carel II van Beughen and became a master in 1734. In the same year he married a daughter of the silversmith Jan Baptist Buijssens I. He was dean of the goldsmiths’ guild (1740–42; 1758). Michiel Verberckt specialized in the production of silverwork for churches in Antwerp and the surrounding region but he also made some domestic silver, decorated with excellent chasing, first in the late Baroque style but later in a Neo-classical style....

(b Christchurch, Hants, March 15, 1782; d nr Kempsey, NSW, July 9, 1861).

Australian architect of English birth. He came from a family whose members had worked in the building trade for generations. His father, Nicholas Verge, was a bricklayer, and Verge entered the family trade. About 1804 he went to London and worked there as a tradesman and builder, probably also acquiring experience of architecture. By 1828 he was an established builder and owned several properties in London, but in that year he moved to Sydney with the intention of farming, acquiring a large pastoral property on the Williams River, NSW. By 1830, however, financial constraints forced him to return to Sydney, where he quickly established a large and successful practice as an architect–builder, assisted from 1832 by John Bibb (1810–62), a trained architect. During the next seven years they reportedly produced more than a hundred buildings, mostly in a Neo-classical Georgian style, among which were some of the finest houses of the period in Sydney. Surviving examples include Tusculum (...